[PTurney]

Hi,

I've recently been researching on the 37-690X and have a question concerning the validity of referring to it as a De Luxe model - a descriptor used by Philco in 1936/37 to refer to (some) models having the new automatic (rotary) tuning system.

In most Philco ads  I've come across the 690X is referred to simply as the "Super High-Fidelity 37-690X", whereas the 675X and the 116X with automatic tuning are specifically called De Luxe models. This makes some sense, as the 690 was available ONLY with automatic tuning, whereas initially the 675 and 116 came either with or without automatic tuning - so use of De Luxe gave a way of distinguishing the 116 and 675 with automatic tuning from the 116 and 675 without it (i.e. with standard tuning).

A Philco brochure from the summer of 1936 refers to the 690X as a De Luxe model, along with the 116 and 675 (you can see this on oldradiozone's 37-690X page http://www.oldradiozone.com/new/PHILCO_3...XE_ad.html - I have this exact same leaflet and it matches what's on the site) . 

A marketing brochure (booklet) from the same period omits De Luxe when referencing the 690. 
http://www.tuberadioland.com/files/philc...hure_1.jpg
http://www.tuberadioland.com/files/philc...ure_2a.jpg

An automatic-tuning brochure from the spring of 1937 ("For Spring 1937 - Philco Automatic Tuning - Six New Models) showing the 116, 675, 690, 9,10 and 11 refers to only the 116 and 675 as De Luxe (the ones that were originally offered with either standard or automatic tuning). The 9,10,11,690 (the 9,10,11 were new) were available only with automatic tuning and  the word De Luxe was not used in their descriptions. At about this time the 116X and 675X with standard tuning were discontinued - they appear to have been offered only as automatics going forwards, but they still retained De Luxe in their descriptions.

Most newspaper/magazine ads omit the De Luxe for the 690X, but again there are exceptions. I refer to the 690X as a De Luxe on my website
http://www.tuberadioland.com/philco37-690_main.html
but I did this before beginning to question its validity. Now I'm not sure!

Perhaps the naming got a little inconsistent at times. I do note that Ron omits De Luxe when referring to the 690X in the Gallery.

Opinions?

Paul

[Arran]

 I think that whoever wrote the ad copy of the first ad simply made a typo, the description of the sets mentions "37-690 DeLuxe but the caption under the photo does not. There was a standard version of both the 37-116 and 37-675 that came without the teledial, hence models of either set with the teledial were the so called "DeLuxe" models, but all 37-690s came with the teledial so calling one a "DeLuxe" would be redundant since there was no standard version.
Regards
Arran

[Ron Ramirez]

^^^^^
I think Arran has a point.

I didn't mention "De Luxe" for the sake of brevity. I have seen some Philco paper that called the 690 the "37-690X De Luxe" early in the 1937 season; later on, they dropped the "De Luxe" probably for the reasons Arran mentioned above.

(I have the introductory 1937 model year brochure as well, produced in the summer of 1936.)

[PTurney]

Hi,

Yes, perhaps they used it early on then dropped it as being unnecessary as it doesn't seem to show up in later advertising that I've found/seen.

It seems to be more than just a typo in that one early 1937 line brochure, as I have a Philco marketing booklet introducing the 1937 line that, now I read it again, refers several times to the 690X as De Luxe while describing automatic tuning & the Foreign Tuning System. Interestingly, unlike for the 116X and 675X, it does not state De Luxe on the specific 690X pages however - as linked to in my original post:-
http://www.tuberadioland.com/files/philco37-690X_brochure_1.jpg
http://www.tuberadioland.com/files/philco37-690X_Brochure_2a.jpg

This was probably for brevity.

Thanks for replies,
Paul

[Arran]

 Another possibility, other then a possible typo, or just plain confusion over two of the three top models having a Deluxe and Standard version but the third not (in the auto business they typically call these trim packages) perhaps Philco did intend to offer a non teledial equipped version of the 37-690X when the ad was compiled. Just like with the auto business advertising campaigns were planned well in advance of the introduction of new models, we will likely never know for certain but perhaps the advertising people genuinely thought that there would be standard and Deluxe versions offered of the three top models on the Philco lineup when the campaign was planned either because Philco intended to offer two versions of each, or because there was a communication breakdown of some sort. However I would think that one of the prior two explanations was the reason behind the copy in the early ad, a typo, or confusion between the top three models and their respective trim packages. I for one kind of wish that Philco would have made a standard non teledial version of a 37-690X, that telephone type dial clutters up the control panel somewhat rather then enhancing it in the way it does on a Grunow Teledial, for example.
Regards
Arran

[PTurney]

Hi,

Arran, good  thought on a possible standard 690X... I had the same thought floating around in the back of my head too. As I thought it through, it would seem that had there been plans for a standard 690X they might have mentioned it in drafts of the ads (most likely as a footnote, as with the 116X and 675X). Assuming the issue was caught upon review, they would then have needed to delete the footnote from the copy prior to release, a relatively easy edit, leaving the words 690X De Luxe together in general descriptions/feature overviews, to avoid more costly edits. As you say, we'll likely never know & it's all just conjecture.

I've lost count of how many times early ads show incorrect knobs, trim etc. (or even the incorrect model)! These inaccuracies sometimes persisted for months after a set was introduced, only being corrected if a later version of the radio was released. It perhaps just goes to show how many last minute changes were being made to the models.

What seems clear is that early on, some Philco sources refer to the auto-tuning-only 690X as a De Luxe, along with the 116X and 675X which came both with/without auto-tuning. Somewhere along the way, they appear to have dropped the De Luxe for the 690X. When the 9X, 10X and 11X auto-tuning models came out mid-season these were not called De Luxe (they came only with auto). When the standard-tuning 116X and 675X variants were discontinued, the auto versions continued to be called De Luxe in advertising.

This all seems to point to either an evolved De facto use or a pre-planned use of De Luxe as a means to distinguish auto tuning versions from standard versions.

Paul

[PhilcoJohn]

WOW a 37-690 ..... good luck with it I wish I could come across one.